President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on some tariffs on Wednesday. This caused US stocks to surge, with the Dow skyrocketing 2,963 points, or 7.87%. The S&P 500 shot up 9.52%, posting its best day since October 2008.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12.16%, marking its best day since January 2001. Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at SWBC, said, “The market’s move upward is violent, and speaks to how badly the market was looking for clarity on this issue.”
Nearly every single company in the S&P 500 rose. Amazon rose 11.98%, Nike gained 11.36%, and airlines like United, Delta, and American surged over 20%.
On the Nasdaq, Apple surged 15.33%, Nvidia rose 18.72%, Palantir gained 19%, and Tesla surged 22.69%. The S&P 500 is now up 12.86% from its recent low but still down more than 3.7% from its close on April 2, before Trump initially announced his tariffs. The Nasdaq remains 2.7% below its April 2 close.
Uncertainty remains as Trump escalated the trade war with China, raising its tariff rates to 125% from 104%. Universal duties of 10% also remain on all US imports alongside targeted tariffs on autos.
Tariff pause boosts US stocks
Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, noted, “Trump illustrated to everyone in the market today how incredibly difficult it is to trade around his tariff regime, because he and only he knows when it ends.”
Global markets had fallen earlier in the day after China announced significant retaliation and the EU announced countermeasures against Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. Japan’s Nikkei index closed 4% down, and South Korea’s Kospi entered bear market territory. In Europe, the STOXX 600 index fell 3.5%.
US oil reversed course and gained 4.65% to $62.35 a barrel after tumbling earlier. Gold spot prices rose more than 3%. US Treasury yields have risen in recent days as investors sold off bonds.
Trump said he was watching volatility in the bond market, which may have influenced his decision to pause some tariffs. “I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky.
I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s beautiful,” he said.
